nola

Thx for the tips !! Never knew a Prius V would take LS Is. Pick up trucks as a 1 way rental would be about $200+ per day. When I bought these in Melbourne FL I think I had rented a big SUV for the 3 hr trip to the West Palm Beach area. I have no great memory of the trip except that I was glad to have the big SUV and the seller for lifting help. I would keep them if taken to the DC area where I now work. Each LS I should weigh a bit over 100 lbs without any "packaging". My preference is do the trip by SUV as the lift into a minivan seems more difficult. I also looked at a Minivan and moving / removing seats could be a problem. As a rental, you cannot predict in advance what a car rental place will provide when you arrive. I made a minivan reservation as well, just in case. Any further comments appreciated. Of course, feel free to see these boys in the West Palm area next Friday NOLA

JoeDirt, thanks for the offer that I might have to respectfully refuse Has anyone ever moved / transported LaScalas using one of the mid size or smaller SUVs? Getting a big or full size / premium SUV from So FL to NE US will be about $250/day. However smaller / mid sized SUVs like Toyota Rav4, Nissan Rogue, and maybe Chevy Traverse or GMC Terrain might be $30/day. Huge difference in cost. No way to know in advance what I might actually get at a car rental counter. Minivan like a Dodge Caravan should work just fine for moving LaScalas from what folks have told me, but apparently a much higher lift or requires removing seats, etc. Any advice appreciated (in case local sale in West Palm Beach area next Friday does not work out). Thx all NOLA

That you for the post about Groomlake. However, I don't know how to find the thread on the forum here. It would be nice to find it.....

dkalsi, I am in Bethesda too. I checked out our local very expensive audio place in dntn Bethesda and another in No VA. Are there any get togethers in the D M V area? NOLA

In brief, looks like shipping LaScala Is (not IIs, oops,,,) from south FL to DC area with me placing them on a single pallet (not 1 pallet per speaker) will be about $500.00, via call to Freightquote. The trucker uses some type of jack to lift them onto and lower them off the truck. Greg at Volti Audio was wonderful in offering me the contact advice above So I will likely either try harder for local sale in FL or drive them up. The car rental companies have very cheap one way rates out of many FL cities to reposition cars in April and May. So if I can get both into a smaller SUV or minivan, the 1 way rate is under 100- for 3 days. Full size SUV would be about $500 for 2 days, yikes NOLA

PM sent back to you. Thank you for your PM. NOLA

I have a pair of LaScalas IIs at my parents house in South Florida (please see separate post regarding sale of 1994 LaScala's). If I do not sell them, it would mean driving them out of FL in a rented SUV, van, or pick up truck vs shipping them. I assume various folks here have shipped large speakers like these via one of the freight companies before. Old Dominion, Con Way, are some companies that I have heard of. Likely for palletized freight. Any suggestions regarding shipping / freighting La Scalas? Also, any potential discounts to use. Thx in advance From Nola with love

Tom, My apologies. Weather issues / storm damage recovery on the SE US coast last fall combined with a new VPN that cut me off from the Forums until now. Not sure why the Klipsch folks do not allow use of the VPN. Tom was wonderful over the phone when we chatted in the past. I am glad the EV DX 38 found a good home. I cannot say enough good things about Tom. from NOLA with love

Well, these are just a little too big for the needs in Florida at my parents house. I will be back there April 14, Good Friday. If there is any interest, please let me know. The link below goes to the posts from when I bought these in 2013. Asking $900.00 for both. Wellington, FL. (I think that is what I paid for them) An easy drive from any of SE FL cities like Miami, Ft Lauderdale, and the Treasure Coast. Orlando is about 2 1/2 hrs away, Tampa 3-4 hr drive away. I might also be to assist in the transport, but contact me first. They are brighter than my LaScala I's in New Orleans, but otherwise great. EDIT: I have never heard LS IIs elsewhere, so I assume that the stronger treble is a characteristic of LS IIs vs Is, as this is true for both speakers. EDIT: **** These 1994 LaScala's are LS I s NOT LS II s ******** This 1994 system has some different components and crossover than my other LaScalas from the 1970s (which no longer have original Klipsch xover networks. They now have either non-Klipsch xover networks or modified xover networks). Hence part of the likely reason for differences in treble timbre along with settings. (Apologies on my part. I think LS IIs were 1st made around 2006) Link to 2013 posts that include pictures on page 1: community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/142447-1994-la-scalas-in-central-florida/ Otherwise, I will either do a drive out of FL with these or maybe ship them. (I will do a separate post in this regard). Thanks all NOLA EDIT: Link to prior thread about these LS's including pictures:

Give me a buzz. Sending PM.

MK IIs and M3Ds appear to sell in $300-500 price range. 1210 M5Gs were always more expensive (?700) and I think this was last production model around 2008-2010, before Technics ended production. As used gear, cost much depends on condition, is there a dust cover, etc. However, only after much mascination (or pain) do a few of us learn the many ins and out of the 1200s. I think most users, DJs or otherwise, simply assume if it works, great. In buying used gear there can be lots of issues. With the 1200 you cannot judge if the tonearm bearings are shot, etc off an Ebay listing. Sometimes one sold for parts might be a cheap fix, if you can be a good repair tech. The 1800 sounds fine, but I will still search for the elusive, not previously abused 1200 / 1210.

On Crossover Networks, Nutcases and Turntable Replacement There have been 2 recent seminal events in my life: Hurricane Katrina and the recent loss of some audio equipment, including my Technics M3D turntable and DX 38 crossover. Well, I can add a third seminal event - trying to replace a TT that is no longer produced. I am a Klipsch product user with many speakers from the mid 1970s. It's all I know. Rightly or wrongly I have bought into the horn loaded sound. I like it. Same is true for my other audio components - I don't know the ins and outs of anything else. That does not mean that I do not appreciate other gear. Beyond a quip or 2 about "The Emperor's New Clothes", I usually compliment others on their set ups. Since Technics only now makes a 4K+ version of the SL 1200 just released earlier in 2016, the prices on the older SL 1200 and 1210 TTs have gone up. I think many were bought in the $300+ to $700 range, when built between the early 1970s to around 2010. These were designed for home use, but do to being over-engineered, they were built like tanks, many DJs favored them. There are DJ and also HIFI cartridges. In Los Angeles a few weeks ago, I found a repair shop west of downtown LA that had multiple TTs, including Technics. However, the owner needs some time on the couch with a medical professional (as a few record store owners and workers had warned me in advance). In brief, and he was vey verbose, he said we all pretty much listen to music very incorrectly - and he knew how to at least partially fix this. He could not have done more to prevent me from buying a 1200 from him. It would have seemed quite rude for me to derail his 30 minute rant. I gave up and left (money in the parking meter was running out). I called the next day, it was no better. I found an SL-1800, a lesser cousin model to the 1200 at a record shop in LA for $150 and bought it. I could not even find out from this guy what he was selling the 1200s for. Why the 1200 - it's all I know. This past week, 2 folks told me to try an audio shop in the DC area, where I now work. I went by. The owner is quite a guy and has a loyal and devoted following. He has multiple rooms of very high end gear and even builds some tube amps under his name. In brief, he is not a lightweight. But a similar situation occurred as in LA. He spent so much time telling me I was doing everything wrong, I just asked myself, why am I here? After Katrina I sensed something was wrong with my set up. In time, I would replace the caps from the Klipsch AA xover network (spam cans) with sonic caps via Bob Crites. It appears to be a common thing for Klipsch users to do. I thought the changes in sound were great and welcomed. I also liked the Universal ALK xover, perhaps more than the fixed up AA. However, the DC Audio Store owner informed me that there was nothing wrong with the caps. I think he wanted them. To give him his due, he is correct, the AA was designed by PW Klipsch to be built with certain parts, as available at the time. And yes, there are always many compromises to sell a product a reasonable cost. I have no doubt that the AA XO with the spam can capacitors was the best PWK could do to have the Khorns and LaScala's produce the sound he was looking for. Yes, I have no doubt that the sonic caps lead to differences in sound from the original oil filled caps used by PWK. However, you cannot buy new oil filled spam can caps as used in the 1970s -they are not made anymore. There are other oil caps, just not these. So I did the best I could think of and at a totally reasonable cost - I think about $50 per speaker for Crites' matched Sonicaps. As such, as a potential new customer, I guess I really did not appreciate being told by a store owner, that I totally messed up. As best as my ears can tell, I did the correct thing and with good results. I listened to several set ups at his shop. It was aural "eye candy". Even a pair of Khorns from the 50s. Apparently not modified and I guess with spam can caps. I was very impressed indeed - except for the fact that I thought the music was too loud. I know some folks do lose some hearing with age. Sometimes, audio folks crank up the volume to make things sound more impressive. I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps best to conclude, to thine own ears be true and above all trust yourself and your instincts.

My ALK Universals were damaged, perhaps beyond repair, during a burglary. So happy to learn more about these, if as yet unsold. I was at UAMS for 4 yrs in the 80s.

Hello: I had a burglary and my Technics M3D was stolen. So interested if this is still available. I had an Ortofon needle on a Technics headshell. Would be interested in the whole package. FWIW, I liked the 1200 more than my Music Hall MMF-5 - which was not stolen .... LOL Thx

Advice For Boxing Up Heresy's For Shipping I once had a single lovely pair of H Is. Since Hurricane Katrina I have bought 6 more Heresy Is and 2 Heresy IIs in an attempt to "perfectly" match 5 of them for a 5.1 set up that never came to fruition. (Not enough bedroom space) Of the 6 that were shipped (2H IIs bought locally), I found 2 of the shipping boxes. I have 2 original boxes from my original pair of H Is (~1976 vintage) bought in the late 1980s. Of course, I cannot find those boxes. I guess I threw the other 4 boxes away. In 2009 someone from the Dallas area shipped 2 H Is to New Orleans. They were likely shipped UPS or FedEx Ground. They were well packed and the boxes arrived in pristine condition - virtually unscathed. All 6 speakers shipped to me were packed differently. In common: they were very tightly packed and I think 1 set was double boxed, which also helps in case the box gets soaked or from possible corner drops and punctures. 1 set was newspaper padded-with lots of folded and rolled and crunched paper. The KL original boxes I think had big and thick Styrofoam molding around the H Is. The max size for a box on United Airlines is 62 linear inches (L x W x H). So the KL boxes would likely have been too big anyway. The max weight is 70 lbs. After that, the bag fees soar. I found different weights for the H Is on the internet, from 45-55 lbs. H IIs or IIIs are around 40-45 lbs. At the airport counter, the boxed H Is were around 50 lbs on that scale. The boxes from Plano did not weigh much. They were rated 200 lb (meaning they can handle 50-60 lbs), 24 x 18 x 18 inches in size and open on the 24" side for easy loading of the speakers. The sole padding, still in the boxes, was +/- 1" thick Styrofoam - pretty firm and carefully cut for box and speaker size. I think the Styrofoam was intended for thermal insulation and 1 side had a tape like backing. The guy in Plano cut the Styrofoam carefully to fully pad all of the corners. There was a big plastic garbage bag inside too. I used that to wrap the H Is. I would probably have preferred to put a thin blanket around each speaker before using the bag, just to baby the wood speaker surfaces, but room was tight as is. Because my H Is had the small 1" risers, I had to remove the Styrofoam from the bottom and used folded up large paper garbage bags to pad the lower corners and actual bottom of the box. I placed 2 folded up paper bags over the grills before laying the top 18 x 24 Styrofoam piece over the front of the entombed speaker. The speaker connectors on the back of the H Is had previously dented the rear 18 x 24 Styrofoam piece. The bag over the H Is and the Styrofoam side piece made "rolling" the speaker into the box quite easy. The fit was nice and tight. You do need some type of plastic bag over the speaker in case of rain, water, etc. FWIW: the 18 x 18 x 24 box on the Home Depot website opens at the top. They list as 1.66 each. I do not know how thick they are. So maybe use 2 boxes to ensure good box thickness and use lots of packing tape for the cut up second or outer box. Top loading would be more of a pain too. I think U Haul sells 200 lb and 275 lb ("double thickness") side opening boxes for under $6.00 each. If the HD boxes are at all flimsy, maybe best to get the 275 lb strength boxes from U Haul or elsewhere. I have no idea where to get "thermal" grade firm Styrofoam or similar, but likely to be found at HD or Lowes too. Remember to cut the pieces to make a tight fit in the box. You might consider doing some of your own measurements first by recording the dimensions of your Heresy's and the INNER dimensions of the boxes you buy. I think U Haul can also get 26 x 18 x 18 inch boxes, if others have Heresy’s with non-detachable risers. Now for drama. It was dry when I left NOLA. After boarding the plane, they closed the airport at Houston due to a nasty thunderstorm (wicked witch not sighted though; it was an old Continental crew, thankfully). Missed my connection at Houston (Despite the storm, my connecting flight left on time).Got on another plane. Bags arrived next day to another airport. Delivered, in the rain, that night, 30 hours after leaving NOLA to my new little apt on Capitol Hill in DC. (No I am NOT a politician. I work at the National Cancer Institute, so I am actually trying to help folks.) Thankfully the speakers arrived intact. The boxes were a total mess. I know UPS and FedEx can also torture boxes. But from Plano to NOLA 5 years ago, the speakers I bought arrived in great shape. Except for some shipping stickers and tape, the boxes could have been returned as unused - they looked that good. Well, they look like a Rugby or Ozzie rules Footballer after a rough match in the rain now. I also put an All In One copier/scanner/fax machine on the plane, in its original boxing. Similar story, though with less box damage. I removed the laser toner before boxing it up. I don’t what happened or where, but when I opened up the machine to replace the toner last night, the smell was so bad I had to air my apt out immediately. Weird, but not much smell left in there this morning. No obvious water damage, etc either. Maybe something to do with heat and humidity. In the past few years other new speakers I have seen shipped in a double box fashion. All had some type of paper or semi-plastic-y cover and always some type of waterproof cover over that. Styrofoam of at least ¾” size was always present. Some of outer boxes were of the double thickness type. In the past, I have received many items bought via folks here, Audiogon, Ebay, etc. Whenever I had good communication about the items before shipment occurred, they always arrived in good to perfect condition. When goods were received damaged the seller and I always settled the matter quickly with both of us being satisfied. People here were always very careful to pack items in a wonderful way. I hope this helps future buyers and shippers. From NOLA with love.

I have not been very active on the Forum over the past few yrs. I read some of the postings here (after migrating to the new Forum system and the new look). Looks like a few folks got together in Hope in late March, but sounded like less than dozen. When I last knew a few things about the company, ?Fred Klipsch was running things, but basically was not interested in us (c. 2007), likely as he had bigger fish to fry. I have no idea what is going on with the company now. Let's face it, the "kids" (those of the IPod generation) have Zero interest in speakers that weigh more than they do. Too bad for them. But in a bad economy, they also don't have the money for Heritage speakers. Even the worst marketing folks know that free and easy P R by keeping product users happy is very desirable - but only if the users are touting the currently sold and profitable products. It would have been nice to have more warm fuzzies from Klipsch than just the website at this time. Oh well….. From what I gather, there is no other planned get together this spring / summer. FWIW, I have moved again, having started a new job at The National Cancer Institute, part of the NIH in the DC area. Awesome job, but I do miss New Orleans. Any members from the DC area, please say hello !! In the meantime, let’s for some type of GTG in 2015, even if informal and not in conjunction with Klipsch as a company. ….NOLA….. (

Endover is a great person to deal with. Thank you for the compliments. These 1994 LSs are sitting at my parent's place in Wellington (WPB area) now. Debating now whether to leave as 2 channel. Maybe use some Heresies or Academies as surrounds and maybe a center. I suspect these will mostly be used for TV, movies and such vs music per se. The folks have lots of old classical records too and an ancient Dual TT in a Fischer cabinet c 1965. Due to size and cost a single 18" PA sub like a Behringer might be optimal, even if not horn loaded. I don't think my dad will argue that it "doesn't keep up". I have a Parts Express 500 W sub plate amp and a spare Adcom big regular SS amp to power a sub. Endover is also looking for a good quality all in one receiver, processor, etc. I use an Onkyo 805 in my bedroom in NOLA. I suspect a similar option would be best for my dad and Endover too. I have an old Outlaw Audio 1050 AV Receiver ?c 2000, but it does not have any HDMI's, nor do my even older units from 20+ years ago. The Onkyo 805 does sound better than the OA, but I never figured out why. Any comments appreciated. Not quite certain why all the chatter here following the sale though. Had others on the Forum previously heard or owned these puppies? The pics were accurate, they had lots of water stains, a few dings, etc, so not the prettiest, but no obvious deeper damage and the sound was sweetness - courtesy of John Lee Hooker on CD. I think we will cover the top and sides with some kind of cloth. So far, most folks that have seen then did not have any idea what the LaScala's are !! FWIW: They do sound a bit "bright" compared to my late 1970s LaScalas with AA crossovers. These have the AL-3 crossovers with polypropylene resistors? vs Zener diodes in the AAs. I don't remember if my ALK Uni's have Zeners, but I don't think so. Endover though some of the "brightness" could be from using his HK receiver when I listened. However, I did not consider this to be bad per se. In fact, I suspect that those who comment positively about tweeter upgrades might appreciate it. It will be about 2 weeks before I really get to play with my JBL 2404s and Beyma CP 25s, much less the Altecs - 511s and 94Bs, back in LA (not L.A.). Also, these have a square and mod. larger K77 driver, a different ? wider but not too thick K55?M and a different squawker horn. These might also account for some differences vs my 1970s gear and explain the possible need for the different x-over. We did not listen to stuff too loud as his family was around, but I thank Endover for inviting me into his house to check these out. (Hey, I missed the drum room...oh well). I did not listen too long either, just a few selections from a few CDs. I sort of feel that if the speakers you are auditioning or testing sound great on at least 1 particular piece of music, you are done. Besides I had a 2 hour drive ahead of me. Merci bien, votre ami - NOLA

Differences: AA LaScala Is 1977ish vs AL-3 LaScala Is 1994? Should these be essentially the same as they are both LaScala 1s? Or is there some difference of significance given the different crossover? Are the inner parts - drivers and horns the same? I also do not understand the actual difference between AA vs AL-3 crossovers, besides lack of oil caps on the AL-3s. Thanks from NOLA

Hello folks: I found this old thread by accident when searching for the differences between an AA vs AL-3 crossover network (which I never found a "proper" answer to). This idea sounds interesting to me. However, is it something that only 5 people on the planet do? Does it fall into the same category of other apparently weird stuff that makes perfect sence, like powering up our gear using a car battery at 6 or 12 V DC to avoid any AC hum and other AC issues (which I think makes so much sence that it seems mind boggling that almost no-one does it)?

I will PM and email you. I go to the West Palm area often to see my dad - and will be there again this week. I have previously contacted other folks with Klipsch speakers in So FL, but it never worked out via Fleabay, Craigslust, Audi ogon, etc. Recently did a road trip and picked up a Belle and LS 1s, all late 70s. How would a '94 compare to a LS 1 from the 70s? I should note that I also have a pair of H 2s, and prefer the H 1s. Cheers from The Big Easy.

Friday 7 19 2013: InnerTuber, I sent you a new Private Message. Thx. NOLA

Hello I have a 2nd hand set of wooden horns that I got in 2009. My old records list them as ALK FastTrac wooden horns, 1" throat (that included K55 drivers and couplers, I think). They were for KHs (not LSs) and were quite pricey, even as used gear. To be honest, I noted a difference in timbre, but not much else compared to the K400 stock mids. I could not tell which mid horns more realistically reproduced music. I tested them only at moderate loudness (guessing below 85 dB). I rarely listened to my KHs at ~100 dB for more than 15 minutes then (or now). So, for the price, they didn't do "it" for me. There appear to be mult wooden horn types sold currently for the KH, but I only found 1 for the LS via Al K's website link. I do not know if any of the elliptical or ovoid/oval mouth horns are made as drop ins for the LS from someone else. I have also seen some beautiful rounded horns, and also iwata horns - of 2 types that appear totally different in shape. (None would be a drop in solution). I also have Altec 511s. Is what you have the same as the link from ALK? Do folks here think that my prior experience with the KH wooden horns would be repeated with your LS wooden horns? My gear is from '75-'79 era. Also, FWIW, I have bought a pair of JBL 2404Hs (1 arrived today) and will be buying 2 Beyma CP25s too. Just need 1 more tweeter for the KHx2, Belle, LSx2 set up. Thanks in advance from NOLA )

Thanks for the reccs. However, I am trying to keep costs way down. I have checked Ebay, etc from time to time as well. I emailed Ron Elliott in Ozzie and he kindly wrote me back. However, I do not know how easily parameters can be changed with his products. MiniDSP in Hong Kong has not replied yet. Their products might be the most economical for me. I may need to call HK using Skype.....

With respect to Seti, Islander (I was in Vancouver in June - lovely, met my downfall in Kelowna - bought 7 bottles of wine), and the rest. I only meant to express my feelings - basic depression (. I also wanted to let it be known how wonderful the Klipsch employees had been to all of us. The company (now AVx) also provides space and bandwidth for this forum. I also wanted to say that topping what PWK had done in the Heritage line would be tough acoustically. Although some folks are willing to buy the old line products as new, I think they are too few to keep a company afloat for long, especially when the economy is in bad shape. Of course, I could be wrong and Neiman Marcus isn't going under anytime soon. Klipsch is not a well know brand to the masses. You do not find their products in BMWs nor most music venues. So average folks have no reason to seek out a Klipsch product. I have not been to Lone Star nor Rocky Mountain Audio Fests. Maybe those places could help gauge the high end market. However, I would think that most folks just end up at Best Buy, or similar, for audio gear. In New Orleans I do not know of anyone under 30 yo with anything better than moderate size towers or satellite/sub combos in the $1000 max range. Many of the kids of the dads in the local Audio club will have nothing to with cleaning records. They almost never attend our get togethers. Most younger folks want easily accessed digital sources with minimal complicating factors - an all in one approach. And they are the future of all of this gear. I just finished a road trip and brought back a Belle and 2 LSs. The sellers were older than me. One was computer illiterate, the other simply did not know much about Klipsch "stuff". Clearly neither party involved their kids, etc to find out about the gear. I did provide my contact info to help answer any Qs about their other speakers, as they did not know who to contact with their Qs. I basically recommended recaps for old Khorns. I do wish the AVx KL venture success. I think the foray into headphones is good. However, I really do not expect them to have a new high end speaker product anytime soon. I also would caution those would thread crap the Klipsch and other brands for their current product lines. As stated before, bills have to be paid, even if by consumer entry level products made in China. These things stated, I see no reason why AVx KL should not embark on some higher end amplifier, crossover, accessory product / gear. However, I suspect that the return on investment might not be adequate. Adding new horn designs, like the newer wooden types, IWATA horns, etc., might be nice to replace the K400. Nice big circular horns, even if they do not fit in an old style KH, Belle, or LS bass bin could also "spiff up" the old line. Changes in the passive crossover, or adding new active networks could be done. PWK is gone, but it might be time to rethink or re-engineer some things, while respecting the past.

PM sent.